Hey Edwin, nice to see you make a reappearance here, hope all is going well in your part of Colorado!

I saw the majority of my Sun Ra shows in the 80s, if they were playing and I didn't have a gig myself I would go. The current Sun Ra Arkestra still puts on a great show and can take you to new spaces when they play, you can always sense Sun Ra's presence in the room. But, nothing like the almost vaudevillian presentations during the earlier days of the band with light shows, dancers, multiple percussionists. There is enough old video footage of the band performing in the PBS documentary to give a good idea of what it was like.

I enjoyed this documentary even more on second viewing. Some of the editing is really great. You can tell the director knew the subject well. It is an effective introduction if you don't know anything about Sun Ra or his music but there is also a lot to enjoy if you already do.

This is also on Reverb and was discussed here previously. It is a beautiful bass but was originally listed at $30,000 so it has been sitting unsold. Price has been steadily dropping.

Also possibly on a fretless bass... listen carefully to the chorus.



This is another case where I know for sure in later years John played fretless on Say You Love Me in live performances... so the parts existed in his mind without speedbumps. Still, I think it could, and indeed was played many times on fretted instruments.

The thing about this community is that it's an open one. Anyone can walk through the door. Most persons who do have a great appreciation for Alembic instruments. One of the things that has always struck me about the club is that, on a frequent basis, members who are selling instruments indicate in their listing that they would like their instrument to go to a player as opposed to a collector and for club members to have first dibs. I that that's great and given that all but two of the Alembics I've purchased have been used, Ive always felt that I've received a fair deal in my purchases. Not necessarily the best deal but a fair one in which I could trust the seller. However, people join the club for variety of reasons. Some, just to sell an instrument possession of which has fallen into their hands

When someone puts an instrument up for sale through the club, it sometimes doesn't sell because no club member is interested (okay, there's ALWAYS a club member interested, they may just not have the cash on hand). What's a person to do if cash is needed and there isn't a buyer. They could always go outside of the club and sell elsewhere, but that complicates things. Making the club a closed group at least as far as selling instruments in order to screen out flippers is an option, but this is likely to make it more difficult for club members to sell their gear.

I doubt our "friend" in Evergreen CO cares about where the basses he sells go as long as he gets his asking price. Flippers will always be there and stopping them from purchasing here would likely unintentionally negatively impact club members who need to sell. I honestly don't know if Mr. Evergreen is going to be able to flip that bass for quick $5,000 profit. He may need to hang onto it for years before he finds someone who absolutely must have it in their possession. As others have suggested, however, no one needs to buy from him. We are free to use the other options we have available to purchase an Alembic that we desire and there are enough of them out there from which to choose. I'd never purchase something from the flipper. His prices are typically outrageous and his feedback not the best. But then again, someone else has the right to overpay for an instrument if that's what they want to do.

Nice 5-string Bal-K Series bass, (fretted) with custom inlay. Just two years old.
https://www.talkbass.com/classifieds/alembic-series-1-5-string.1679792/

Sold.

I'm 95% sure I saw a 4005LS (light show) bass version on an an exhibit wall (not for sale) in a music shop in Vancouver BC around 2001. There's only 5 made and 3 in known existence, so maybe I actually dreamed it.

Eagles Of Death Metal: https://youtu.be/yMTUM-nLrZ8?list=PL0wGF40rwhkQTZb45ZeFR65aKuQWfBSF7

Peter

Thanks for the heads up! I didn't get to see Sun Ra and the Arkestra until the mid 80s (pre-stroke), but definitely a life changing experience.

Meshell, Peace Beyond Passion.